This article is placed on behalf of Aneta Ostaszewska Institute of Social Prevention and Resocialisation (IPSiR) Faculty of Applied Social Sciences and Resocialisation University of Warsaw, Podchorążych 20, 00-721 Warsaw email: A.Ostaszewska@uw.edu.pl

The death of Michael Jackson and the media coverage between 25th June 2009 and January 2010 caused a lot of questions about contemporary culture, e.g. How does popular culture deal with death? What does the media “do” with death? What do reactions of the media and its community “tell” about the media itself and the audience? From anthropological and sociological points of view the case of Michael Jackson’s death can be analyzed as a social event, a contemporary ritual, the collective experience of the hero’s farewell. The most significant issue is that at this very moment, when Jackson died, popular culture was deprived of its biggest illusions: the immortality of its heroes.

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A Spanish translation of a 2014 article by Elizabeth Amisu, entitled, ‘Heard It Through The Grapevine': Are We Losing Michael Jackson All Over Again. The article was written to commemorate Jackson’s 56th birthday.

‘Throats are part of the erotic act, commanding, whispering, swallowing. Through his cries, whispers, groans, whines, and grunts. Michael Jackson occupies a third space of gender.’ Francesca Royster explores the sexualisation of Jackson’s voice throughout his earlier solo works, ‘Off The Wall’, ‘Thriller’ and ‘Bad’ while contextualising his voice within the wider concept of African-American sexuality and its representation.

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Michael Jackson Academic Journal

The Michael Jackson Studies Academic Journal is a peer-reviewed online academic journal which aims to bring wider attention to Michael Jackson as artist, creating and implementing an academic model for the study of his multi-modal art.

Recent Articles

Wade Robson, a witness for the defense in the 2005 trial of Michael Jackson, recently recanted his sworn testimony that Jackson never molested him—testimony he steadfastly affirmed again and again, under oath, throughout vigorous cross-examination. However, he now says he was molested, and he and his lawyer, Henry Gradstein, have filed a creditor’s claim against the Jackson Estate seeking financial damages. In a prepared statement quoted May 9, 2013, by the New York Daily News and others, Gradstein told the press, “Michael Jackson was a monster, and in their hearts every normal person knows it.” In other words, Gradstein suggests “normal” people should follow their instincts and assume Jackson was guilty, before any evidence has been presented or considered, because Jackson was clearly not one of us. He was not “normal.” He was, in Gradstein’s words, “a monster.”

This article is placed on behalf of Aneta Ostaszewska Institute of Social Prevention and Resocialisation (IPSiR) Faculty of Applied Social Sciences and Resocialisation University of Warsaw, Podchorążych 20, 00-721 Warsaw email: A.Ostaszewska@uw.edu.pl

The death of Michael Jackson and the media coverage between 25th June 2009 and January 2010 caused a lot of questions about contemporary culture, e.g. How does popular culture deal with death? What does the media “do” with death? What do reactions of the media and its community “tell” about the media itself and the audience? From anthropological and sociological points of view the case of Michael Jackson’s death can be analyzed as a social event, a contemporary ritual, the collective experience of the hero’s farewell. The most significant issue is that at this very moment, when Jackson died, popular culture was deprived of its biggest illusions: the immortality of its heroes.

A Spanish translation of a 2014 article by Elizabeth Amisu, entitled, ‘Heard It Through The Grapevine': Are We Losing Michael Jackson All Over Again. The article was written to commemorate Jackson’s 56th birthday.

‘Throats are part of the erotic act, commanding, whispering, swallowing. Through his cries, whispers, groans, whines, and grunts. Michael Jackson occupies a third space of gender.’ Francesca Royster explores the sexualisation of Jackson’s voice throughout his earlier solo works, ‘Off The Wall’, ‘Thriller’ and ‘Bad’ while contextualising his voice within the wider concept of African-American sexuality and its representation.

Inspired by the chapter, ‘ Invincible , The Denouement Album’ from The Dangerous Philosophies of Michael Jackson by Elizabeth Amisu (Praeger, 2016).

Little academic writing has been devoted to Michael Jackson’s final studio album, Invincible. This article explores Invincible through Kanye West’s metaphor of Crack Music from the 2005 album, Late Registration and places it in the context of black aspiration as a threat to dominant Western ideologies.

‘My ambition has been to write a book for the 16 year old fan as well as for the 60 year old professor of Philosophy. They all should read it with profit.’

Das Phänomen Michael Jackson was the first academic book ever written solely on Michael Jackson. On behalf of Jochen Ebmeier, the MJAS have published links to chapters of his recently re-published book from 1997.

This book is a biography which places Jackson in a broader context of the aesthetic of modern entertainment and art.

Dangerous is a must read for every Michael Jackson fan, non-fan, critic or music lover. Dr. Susan Fast meticulously researched Michael Jackson’s 1991 album in a way that has never been done before and in doing so she puts Jackson back where he belongs; in the spotlight as the highly talented black musician and artist he was… and he was dangerous too!

The book also makes readers want to re-listen to the music and re-watch the short-films again and again.

The artist, Michael Jackson has oft been given the epithet, Peter Pan of Pop, however, this article presents his association with fictional characters as far more complex. It also discusses Jackson’s parallels with Shakespeare’s Ariel and the authors, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Oscar Wilde.

In 1926, poet and essayist Langston Hughes wrote a short but stirring piece that became a manifesto for the Harlem Renaissance, the great cultural movement that brought Black art, culture, and music to prominence in American society. Last spring, when I assigned this essay to one of my American Lit classes, it occurred to me that much of what Hughes wrote in 1926 could also apply to many of the trials and tribulations that Michael Jackson would endure as an African-American artist more than sixty years later. Here is Langston Hughes’s essay. The sections that are highlighted are my emphasis, as these are important points that I will return to later when addressing the essay’s relevance to Michael Jackson:

Michael Jackson starred in and produced upwards of forty films in a career which showcases many of the most watched short films of all time. The four-minute sequence often perceived to be ‘Bad’ (dir. Martin Scorsese, 1987) is in fact the epicentre of a much longer narrative. Parodied in ‘Moonwalker’ (dir. Jerry Kramer, 1988) in the spirit of ‘Bugsy Malone’ (dir. Alan Parker, 1976), it is nevertheless targeted towards adults. Richard Price’s screenplay was inspired by a 1985 shooting and explores several complex themes. This essay de-constructs ‘Bad’ for its cinematic significance, discussing its cultural relevance and artistry through a shot-by-shot analysis which interprets the film through mise en scène, cinematography, performances and wider context.